Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. Raises Position in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG)

Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG) by 16.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,889 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after purchasing an additional 269 shares during the quarter. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in PPG Industries were worth $282,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PPG. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. raised its stake in PPG Industries by 6.7% in the fourth quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 11,004 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,646,000 after buying an additional 690 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in PPG Industries by 11.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 358,333 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $46,512,000 after purchasing an additional 35,571 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC grew its holdings in PPG Industries by 137.5% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 34,937 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $5,224,000 after purchasing an additional 20,226 shares during the period. Nomura Holdings Inc. grew its holdings in PPG Industries by 2.3% in the third quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 8,479 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,101,000 after purchasing an additional 192 shares during the period. Finally, Financial Counselors Inc. grew its holdings in PPG Industries by 6.4% in the third quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. now owns 1,883 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $244,000 after purchasing an additional 114 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.86% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on PPG. KeyCorp cut their price objective on shares of PPG Industries from $164.00 to $162.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Bank of America cut their price target on shares of PPG Industries from $167.00 to $164.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of PPG Industries from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $150.00 to $163.00 in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Robert W. Baird reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $150.00 price target on shares of PPG Industries in a report on Friday, January 19th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price target on shares of PPG Industries from $170.00 to $161.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $155.47.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Vincent J. Morales sold 3,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.94, for a total transaction of $479,196.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 28,439 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,008,192.66. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.55% of the company’s stock.

PPG Industries Stock Performance

PPG traded up $0.67 during trading on Friday, hitting $132.92. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,303,659 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,969,299. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. PPG Industries, Inc. has a one year low of $120.32 and a one year high of $152.89. The firm has a market cap of $31.17 billion, a PE ratio of 22.45, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.30. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $138.16 and its 200-day simple moving average is $138.89.

PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 19th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.86 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.86. PPG Industries had a net margin of 7.74% and a return on equity of 22.98%. The business had revenue of $4.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.43 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.82 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that PPG Industries, Inc. will post 8.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PPG Industries Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 10th will be given a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 9th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.96%. PPG Industries’s payout ratio is 43.92%.

PPG Industries declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Thursday, April 18th that authorizes the company to buyback $2.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the specialty chemicals company to purchase up to 8.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

About PPG Industries

PPG Industries, Inc manufactures and distributes paints, coatings, and specialty materials in the United States, Canada, the Asia Pacific, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. It operates through two segments, Performance Coatings and Industrial Coatings. The Performance Coatings segment offers coatings, solvents, adhesives, sealants, sundries, and software for automotive and commercial transport/fleet repair and refurbishing, light industrial coatings, and specialty coatings for signs; wood stains; paints, thermoplastics, pavement marking products, and other advanced technologies for pavement marking for government, commercial infrastructure, painting, and maintenance contractors; and coatings, sealants, transparencies, transparent armor, adhesives, engineered materials, and packaging and chemical management services for commercial, military, regional jet, and general aviation aircraft.